Upon returning home from work, Ernst Heinz was greeted by his obviously
excited wife.

Ernst, have you heard the news from Sarajevo?

What?No, I have not heard any news
all day.You know old Heinrich doesn't
allow what he calls “idle talk” in the shop – except for customers, of
course!But something delightful did
happen today.You know Heinrich's son,
Jakob, is in the army, ja?Well
he was recently promoted to hauptman and with his promotion came a short
leave to visit his family. Well, he came by the shop today to visit his father
and he brought along his new sidearm.It
is one of the new Pistole 08 models that the army adopted.The one developed by Georg Luger.Margarete, it is a wonder to behold.Herr Luger has taken Hugo Borchardt's design
and turned it into a very practical pistol.It is even smaller and much more elegant of line than the Mauser that we
had in the shop a few years ago.The
only question the army had about the design was that that it is so well-made
and fitted so tightly that they were worried that it might sieze up if it gets
dirt in the action.Of course keeping
guns clean is necessary, but in battle these things do happen, so the army designed
a holster that keeps the dirt out.What
good thinking, ja?Well, Jakob
brought along some of the cartridges for his Luger pistol -- it seems that
everyone is calling it the Luger pistol already -- and so he and Heinrich and I
went to the little firing range behind the shop and we tried it out.Margarete, this pistol is phenomenal!You just point your arm toward the target and
the pistol's sights are perfectly aligned. And it is even more accurate than
that Mauser we had in the shop, and I told you how good that one was!The workmanship is even up to Heinrich's
standards!Once the army gets all of
theirs and they become available to civilian gun shops like Heinrich's I think
I shall buy one... I believe we will be able to afford it, we are doing rather
well, and it won't be long before I shall be almost as good a gunsmith as
Heinrich and will be able to open my own shop...Ach!, but
here I have been prattling on about a new gun when you have news to tell
me.So what has been happening while I have
been cooped up at work?

Oh, Ernst, your new gun sounds wonderful, but you know I know so little
of such things.But I have heard
terrible news from Sarajevo.You know
that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Bosnia and was touring Sarajevo
yesterday, ja?

I seem to remember hearing something about it.A fine fellow this Archduke seems to be, for
an Austrian. So how did his tour go?

It was horrible!Some anarchists
tried to blow up his automobile with a bomb, but they missed and blew up the
automobile that was following the Archduke and his wife.Franz Ferdinand even helped the wounded
personally and after they were sent to hospital everyone advised the Archduke
to stop the tour right then and there, but the brave man said to continue, he
would not be stopped by terrorists. Then it happened, Ernst, another terrorist
pushed through the crowd and started shooting.The Archduke and his lovely wife were booth shot dead.Can you believe it?What is this world coming to?Some people are saying that this insult to
the Austro-Hungarian Empire may lead to war.Do you really think so, dear?I
know we have an alliance with them, but war? Really?

Now liebchen, I don't think it will lead to a real war, after
all, everybody knows that the Balkans are full of hotheads.Austria-Hungary may send an army to teach
those Bosnians and Serbs a lesson, but who in their right mind will defend a
state that committed the outright murder of the heir to the crown of such a
power as Austria-Hungary?No, the
leaders of all the major powers in Europe are much too sane to plunge us into a
real war just because of some insane Bosnian or Serb or whatever he is.

July, 1914

Margarete, have you heard?The
Kaiser says that Germany will support Austria-Hungary against the Serbs, and he
has called upon all able bodied German men to join the army.This does seem the right thing to do, and I'm
sure this war with Serbia won't last long, after all, how long can little
Serbia stand against the combined might of Germany and Austria-Hungary?I shall enlist tomorrow.

Oh, Ernst, are you sure about this?Surely a gunsmith is important to the war effort here at home.I know the country needs men in the army, but
I need you here too.

I am sorry, liebchen, but it is my duty to the Kaiser.If I shirked this duty I could never look you
in the face again.As I said, I am sure
this will all be over in a very short time.

Of course you shall get my soldier's pay which should be enough to keep
you well.I'm sure I'll be home by
Christmas!

8 August 1914

German army training camp

Dear Margarete,

Well, it seems I have both the good news and the bad.

The good news is that my proficiency with the rifle caught the eyes of
the training sergeants, and they asked me about my background with weapons.When I told them that I was nearly a
journeyman gunsmith they immediately took me to the Major's office.I am not ashamed to say that I thought I was
in very bad trouble!But nein,
the Major said that the army needed men with my training and assigned me to a
machine-gun company.So when I finish my
basic training I shall be trained on the new MG-08 which is the army's version
of the Maxim machine-gun. There is no better gun in the world!As soon as I finish that training I shall be
the leader of a machine-gun crew and receive a promotion to corporal!I am sure that you will find the extra pay
very welcome, and being in a machine-gun crew is much safer than being a simple
rifleman!There is simply nothing in the
world that can withstand the fire from one of these guns, so do not worry about
me.

The bad news is that the French and the British have decided to support
the Serbs.Apparently they have some
sort of treaty with them.The word is
that they invaded Togoland yesterday, so I suppose the war is on for real.I still have faith in our general staff and
do not think that this war will last too long, even with the French and British
joining in.I hope to be home with you
very soon.

15 September 1916 –

The Somme River, France – in the German trenches.

Ernst Heinz finished reassembling his MG 08
machine gun.A good soldier, and Ernst
was a good soldier, always cares for his equipment and no equipment was more important
than his weapon.The MG 08 was an
excellent battlefield weapon; it was based on the gun devised by the American,
Hiram Maxim, and could fire the standard 7.92x57IS cartridge at 400 rounds per
minute.This was indeed the king of the
battlefield.Indeed, it was the use of
such weapons that led to this terrible trench warfare over two years ago when
it became obvious that charging into the face of massed machine guns was simply
suicidal for men and horses alike.

The day started out the same as most days
had ever since the fall of 1914.Feldwebel Schultz awakened everybody
before dawn to defend the trenches against possible dawn attacks.After dawn had broken there was a sort of
unofficial truce to allow both sides to have breakfast.Then it was time to clean weapons and try to
avoid the mud and the smell – which was impossible.Those were the worst things about living in
the trenches, the mud and the stink – unless you count that fellow over in
another equally miserable trench who is trying to kill you.

Heinz was a typical soldier.He had enlisted in 1914 to do his duty for his
Kaiser and his Fatherland, but he really had no idea why this war was being
fought, other than that Germany’s ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had
declared war on Serbia following the assassination of the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo.Of
course Serbia’s allies had rushed to her aid.So here we were over two years later living in muddy trenches in the
times between futile attacks.So much
for Count von Schlieffen’s wonderful plan for a speedy victory.

It’s another boring day in the
trenches.Ernst has no assigned duties
other than to keep his machine gun and its crew in a state of readiness.He writes a letter to his wife back home in
Germany.He asks how the kinder are doing.It has been so long since he has seen
them.They must have grown several
centimeters.He gives the letter to Hauptmann Koenig to be placed in the
next outgoing post.

15 September 1916 –

The Somme River, France – behind the British
lines.

Henry Cooper arose and ate a better
breakfast than many of his fellow Tommies.Indeed, he had even slept in a proper cot well out of the mud and mire
of the trenches.Henry was one of the
very few people who actually knew about the British Army’s new secret
weapon.He had to know about it; he was
assigned to one of the crews.Many in
the Ministry of Defence thought the new weapon -- originally called a
“landship” but almost immediately given a code name to try to preserve secrecy
-- was still far too prone to mechanical failure to be deployed.However, “needs must when the Devil drives”
and the situation on the Somme was dreadful, to say the least.Something simply must be done to break this
horrible stalemate.So the decision was
made to use the new weapon now.Field
Marshal Haig had made the plans; now the troops must follow them.

In order to keep the new weapon a secret for
as long as possible, the workmen who made the separate parts were not told for
what kind of thing those parts were being made.One of the larger parts looked like nothing so much as a huge water
tank, and so the workers called it.Since ‘tank’ had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual nature of the
weapon, the Ministry adopted the term as a code name – and it stuck.

Henry thought back to when he had been
ordered to report to headquarters about a year ago.He’d thought that he was in for severe
discipline, since being summoned to the presence of theOfficer Commanding was almost never
good news for a lowly enlisted man.The
odd thing was that he could not recall doing anything that would have even
remotely attracted the attention of the OC.Well, he had his orders and there was nothing for it but to obey.

Upon reaching headquarters Henry was ushered
into a windowless room with but one other occupant.Surprisingly this other man was dressed in
civilian attire, but had an unmistakable air of authority about him.The civilian bade Henry to sit and proceeded
to ask him all manner of questions.When
he asked what this was all about, the civilian replied that it was highly
classified but that if he passed this interview and volunteered for the project
Henry would then learn the details.

The civilian (Henry never did learn his
name) seemed very interested in Henry’s experience driving a Holt tractor on
his uncle’s farm in America before the war.He also was seemingly pleased that Henry was of slightly less than
medium height.

Several days later Henry was again summoned
to headquarters.The same civilian was
there and asked him directly if he would volunteer for a very secret mission
that would very likely shorten the war greatly.Henry would have to answer immediately and no further information would
be given.Henry, like any patriotic
Englishman, wanted nothing more than to have this war ended, and besides, what
could be worse than returning to the trenches?So he agreed to volunteer and was swiftly shipped back to England to be
trained as a “tank” driver.

Whilst driving a tank was very like to
driving his uncle’s Holt tractor it was very much more difficult due to the
nearly total lack of visibility and to the larger size of the machine.In fact the “tank”
was so large and complex that it required a crew of 8 to properly operate
it.Communicating with the crew over the
clamour of the engine was a constant problem.After only a few minutes of operation the conditions inside a “tank”
became a close approximation of Hell itself.Temperatures rose to unbearable levels, sometimes over 120 degrees
Farenheit, and the air was nearly unbreatheable due to the engine exhaust and
the Cordite fumes from firing the weapons. Ventilation was more a wish than a
reality.In combat it would only be
likely to get worse.

This testing process made Henry fully aware
of the Hellish conditions inside these “tanks” but like all good soldiers he
was ready to do his duty, especially if that could shorten this ghastly
war.However he
was beginning to wonder if this was, in fact, any better than the trenches.

As the tank crews were being trained, so
their machines were being tested and improved.The MkI tank had a proclivity to break down unexpectedly and there were
still many who feared that this machine was not yet ready to use in combat, but
the die had been cast and the tanks and their crews were shipped to France
under heavy secrecy.For better or worse
The Somme was about to witness the birth of mechanised warfare.

Henry and his crew had been waiting beside
their machine when the order came down.The attack was about to begin.There was just time enough for one last breath of fresh air and then
they were rolling forward at no more than a walking pace, indeed, that was as
fast as the beast could go on its tractor-like tracks, but this allowed the
infantry to march behind the great beasts, gaining some measure of safety from
their massive armour.

15 September 1916 –

The Somme River, France – in the German
trenches.

The British attack came as they always
did.First there was the artillery
bombardment which was extremely hard on the nerves, but usually did little real
damage.Unless a shell landed directly
in a trench the blast and shrapnel went over everyone’s heads.When the barrage let up, Ernst and his crew
quickly set up the MG 08 with its box of ammunition in 250 round belts to be fed into the
breech of the big gun by his loader, Hans Weber.This was done with the practiced efficiency
of veteran soldiers,The gun was ready well before the first attacking British troops
came into view.The guns of Ernst’s
comrades were readied with equal speed.They would soon be mowing down their enemies like ripe wheat before the
scythe.Would the British never learn?

As they waited at their guns a sound was
heard.It was unlike anything they had
ever heard before – a kind of metallic clanking that was loud enough to hear
even with ears half-deafened by the bombardment.Apparently the British had something new to
try, but they had tried before and always failed when the massed machine guns
opened up.This new thing would likely
be more of the same.

What they saw next was unlike anything they had
ever seen before.Instead of lines of
oncoming soldiers there were huge metal vehicles moving slowly toward the
German trenches.Occasionally one of
them would be hit by artillery fire which caused it to suddenly stop in a mass
of fire and smoke; some even just stopped for no apparent reason at all, but
these events happened rarely.The
machines came steadily on with the infantry walking behind them where the
German bullets could not reach.

Even worse, the metal monsters mounted
machine guns and cannon of their own and they were now in range and taking a
deadly toll on the German soldiers.Ernst trained the MG 08 on one of the behemoths and pressed the trigger
sending a hail of 9.9 gram copper-nickel clad bullets
directly into the front of the enemy machine – the bullets just sparked and
bounced off.

Ernst kept up the fire even as the monster
reached the trench line, but to no avail,His last thought as the British “tank”
crossed the trench and ground him to a bloody pulp was: Mein Gott, bullets können sie
nicht aufhalten!